UK puts in foot and mouth measures for German dairy imports

A water buffalo herd outside Berlin was the confirmed source of FMD in Germany. Credit: Katja Strohschein, stock.adobe.com

The British government has stepped up measures to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD), following a case being confirmed in Germany, according to Defra. The import of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany will now be banned to protect farmers and their livelihoods. GB health certificates will no longer be issued for animals susceptible to FMD including all live animals and fresh meat.

The UK chief veterinary officer is also urging livestock keepers to remain vigilant to the clinical signs of FMD following a confirmed case of the disease in Germany. There are no cases in the UK currently.

Germany’s first outbreak in 40 years was in a herd of water buffalo outside Berlin.

It has now lost its status as free from foot-and-mouth disease under World Organisation for Animal Health requirements, which means many veterinary certificates for exports outside the EU can no longer be issued, according to Germany’s federal agriculture ministry. As a result, exports of milk and dairy products, meat and meat products, hides and skins and blood products are “currently hardly possible,” the ministry said. EU rules mean that these exports to fellow European countries require that only the region of a country where the outbreak is, needs to stop exporting.

FMD poses no risk to human or food safety, but is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals, livestock keepers should therefore be absolutely rigorous about their biosecurity. Maintaining good biosecurity is essential to protecting the health and welfare of herds and critical to preventing the spread of diseases such as FMD and preventing an outbreak spreading.

FMD causes significant economic losses due to production losses in the affected animals as well as loss of access to foreign markets for animals, meat and milk for affected countries, Defra says.

Related content

Leave a reply

Dairy Industries International